I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  I was invited to the Middle East Coffee&Tea Convention, to share my art and paint some prizes for the barista championship. Here I am lugging my tradeshow booth stuff past the world’s tallest building.

Dubai is a city of skyscrapers, impossible but real islands shaped like palm trees, indoor ski resorts, deserts, horse and camel races, excellent food and more giant malls than any place needs. Here are some highlights: Continue reading…

Vintage Beer Poster

Beer Nouveau

San Diego Beer Fair, here I come!  On September 24th, I’ll be painting live on behalf of Arts ‘n Drafts, Continue reading…

I often get asked to do portraits from photographs and never see the people in ‘real life’. Recently, I got to meet this couple in person when they picked up their completed portrait. It was fun to see how the kindness I saw in their eyes while painting them was truly present when we met.

Please email me at coffeepainter@gmail.com if you would like to commission something.  It’s not too early to plan for the holidays!

People often ask if I paint using mediums other than coffee.  Yes, though not as often.  I started out as a colored pencil and watercolor artist, then got into oils a bit.  About 3 years into my coffeepainting journey, an interior decorator hired me to paint oils for an Oklahoma restaurant called Rib Crib.  The subject matter was quite different from my usual classic masterpieces- this time it was cowboys and old west themes.  We quite a few of these restaurants together throughout the Southwest, and now it looks like we’re at it again.  This job has to be done in 2 weeks!  Here’s a bad phone-pic of yesterday’s work.

This store will be in McAlester, OK.  The founder of the town, J.J. McAlester, is one of the characters in True Grit, interestingly.  Now the town is where the state prison is, and they have a prison rodeo!  So one picture shows that, and we’ll have a train scene, and J.J.’s old storefront.  Yeehaw!

Sometimes I still do oil paintings, and I really enjoy the chance to use more than one color in a painting! Here’s a painting commissioned by my brother.

Another successful test for Curb Media- this time it’s all Guinness.  Looks remarkably like coffee, doesn’t it?

And here’s my family crest:

Yum, I got to paint with chocolate as a test for Curb Media.  Cadbury’s had a successful commercial involving this gorilla, so here he is made entirely from chocolate!  More chocolate paintings to come, for sure.

And here’s a little video of the work in progress:

I had drawn the gorilla using a bar of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk and then painted him in with sauce.  Definitely a project in which I sampled the paint throughout!

I’m doing some painting tests for a company in England called Curb. Here’s mud!

Today was a happy and rare day- I actually completed three paintings.

This one is called “Ophelia’s Coffee Break”.  The original is by Waterhouse, the same artist who I’ve paid homage to with my “Lady of Chocolat”.

And this one, “Rx Espresso”, was commissioned by the new shop of that name, near a hospital in Juneau, Alaska.  Perhaps I’m starting a medical series- a few years ago, I was commissioned to paint the famous nurse Florence Nightingale.

And the third painting has to remain a secret for now.  I’ll let you in on it when I’m allowed to.

All of these and the ones in the previous post will be available as prints by Christmas time.  If you are interested in the originals, please contact me.

Scenes from Cafe Femenino

I had the privilege of creating a work for auction for the Cafe Femenino Foundation, being inspired by the Millrock Latte Art contest going on at the same time.   Coffee Fest graciously gave me space on the skybridge of the convention center where I was able to watch the contest, paint, and display other coffee paintings. Continue reading…